xp_logs | Meggan and Korvus (Backdated)

As a surprise early birthday present, and to get him away from any thoughts of what happened at the Renaissance Fair, Meggan takes Korvus out to dinner, using the certificate from Wade. Parables come up, as well as accidental double entendre.

Meggan knocked at Korvus’ door, before poking her head in with a small smile. “Hi. You’re not doing anything really, really important, are you?” One never knew, he might be working on something, and not need her to drag him away from it for a few more hours.

She had a surprise for him, and she wanted to give it to him earlier than his birthday. Because after him being turned into a Nandaki wielding Black Knight in need of a throne, he might need something nice and different, as a distraction from thoughts of being mind controlled for a second time. The rest of his gifts could wait until the actual day, but this one had waited for long enough.

Korvus didn't seem to be too busy, lounging in a hammock that hung in front of the room's window. He had the belt from his suit laid out across his lap and a hammer in hand to pound out the dent Molly had left. He smiled when his girlfriend peeked in. "I am not." He set down the tool and rolled out of the hammock and onto his feet. "You appear to have something planned."

Meggan’s nod confirmed that. “Oh, I do. I wanted to take you out to dinner, my treat. For a surprise, early happy birthday to you meal.” Maybe not the kind that ended with cakes with enough candles to be a fire hazard being wheeled out, but a nice sort of date evening with just the two of them. The certificate Wade had provided was tucked away in the back pocket of Meggan’s jeans, ready to be whipped out and put into action if he wanted to go right now, or in the next three hours. A delicious Mexican meal could be a fun way for him to get away from knocking out the dings in his suit.

The young man smiled brightly and held out his left hand for her to take. "I would enjoy that." Korvus was silent for just a moment before he observed, "I've read that, in America, a 'surprise' present is usually kept a secret until it can be seen by the recipient. Is that incorrect or have you done this unconventionally?" He asked while leading her out of the room. The certificate made the restaurant look like a place where a T-shirt and jeans would be acceptable so he didn't bother with the idea of changing. Meggan was dressed similarly, regardless.

“Sometimes people are blindfolded for a surprise, if it’s really close by—like the next room. Or they just promise to keep their eyes closed, and try to resist the temptation to peek or ask all the questions. But I don’t think that’s for driving downtown,” Meggan explained after she squeezed his hand. That would be a lot of steering him carefully, up and down any hills or bumps in the road. Suddenly falling headfirst into his surprise restaurant after Korvus stumbled over the front steps would never be an ideal method to reveal something.

“But I’m doing the one doing the driving, so you won’t know until you smell it,” she teased. She would try to avoid dropping clues, outside of what he could see. Downtown Bakery was a name that revealed nothing.

"I will defer to your expertise." Korvus said with a nod. She had to drive, of course. "I am very interested in American birthday traditions." He noted as they walked.

Meggan racked her brain for anything he might not already have figured out as they headed for the garage, with only a quick check of a pocket to be sure she had her phone. She knew he knew about the exchange of presents, it had come up in the past. “Sometimes people put candles in their food—just dessert like cupcakes or massive cakes with piles of gooey frosting, because the main course of...whatever type of food they’re eating that day probably wouldn’t work for that. It might sink, or fall over...and set fire to the tablecloth.” She had almost slipped up about what kind of food he had in store somewhere in there, before continuing, “Or maybe it’s not big enough, hard enough, firm enough for it to go well.” That…didn’t come out right, but he should get the point.

Korvus nodded, oblivious to the double entendre. "I do not much care for sweets." He observed offhandedly before climbing into the car with Meggan.

“Then, we’ll just skip the sugar and keep with the main thing,” Meggan agreed as she found her keys. “More spicy, than sweet, right?” Simultaneously, she was making a mental note to scrap all plans to find the world’s sweetest birthday cupcake on the actual day. Once they were in motion, she’d be keeping her eye out for street signs. She knew which roads to take to get there. She’d followed an online street map once earlier in a trial run, and figured out what led people into a dead end street because of being outdated, leaving meal seekers confused and hungry, and disappointed—and which path led the way straight into a satisfied stomach.

"Oh! That is a double entendre. Very good." Korvus said, almost randomly, with a nod as he got into the car and settled for the trip. "I am very good at puns and other forms of word play in Hindi."

It was, wasn’t it? There was a double entendre wrapped snugly in there, while she had been aiming for intentionally vague for what the food choice was. “That’s right,” Meggan chuckled as they started off. “Accidental double entendres sometimes, too.” Because it was twice in a row now, even if only she had caught the first! “Oh, yeah? Any really great ones you can think of, while we’re out and about?” With a translation she hoped, so she would know how to say it herself. If she planned to, because only he would understand it if she succeeded in wrapping her mouth around the syllables correctly.

"They... would not translate well, I'm afraid." The young man admitted. "Because of such I am not so funny in English. Parables are more easily adapted."

Meggan glanced over fleetingly as they drove along. She was genuinely curious, but still trying to keep her eyes glued to the road to make sure they weren’t going to miss a sign or light. Or car. “Oh. What’s your favorite parable, then? Even if it's a little bit lost in translation,” she said as she took a right turn. She’d like to know. She didn’t believe Korvus wasn’t funny—he could do funny, it was just of a different sort. Unique. Giving her that plush still beating heart was both funny and sweet.

"The Blind Men and An Elephant is my favorite." Korvus said with a smile. "Would you care to hear it?"

“Yes. Please, I really do,” Meggan answered, pointedly curious and eager to know. Driving went faster if it wasn’t in total silence. Or at least that was how it had always felt to her. She saw one of their exits approaching now, shouldn’t be too much further.

Korvus smiled at her enthusiasm and began. "A number of blind men came to an elephant. Somebody told them that it was an elephant. The blind men asked, ‘What is the elephant like?’ and they began to touch its body. One of them said: 'It is like a pillar.' This blind man had only touched its leg. Another man said, ‘The elephant is like a husking basket.’ This person had only touched its ears. Similarly, he who touched its trunk or its belly talked of it differently." He paused for a second, then gave the moral. "In the same way, we see Maya in a particular way and that limits our understanding of Brahman to that perception alone; we think that it is nothing more."

Meggan could see why he appreciated that philosophical parable in particular—it was deep, and made a person think. “Because they’re so fixated on telling what it must be in their heads, and assuming they know how the rest will be, without knowing the whole being of the elephant? Just a particular point of focus…even if it’s just by touch in a limited area?” She thought she almost understood. Of course, thinking about blind men prodding elephant legs when you were supposed to be driving could mean you missed your turn. Once she realized that, a hurried check showed that while that wasn’t the case yet, it almost had been. After she had made the correct left, gone straight and left again, she realized they were almost there. Maybe a few minutes to go.

"Very good." Korvus said very genuinely. "You are much more gifted in interpreting parables than I was when I first heard it."

“Yeah? You're sure that was right. Thank you," Meggan said with some happiness. "Maybe it was just half beginner’s luck?” Even if it was just that, for her it was also a pleasant thrill of surprise at being right, and simply being massively pleased. She had expected to miss something that should have been glaringly obvious to her somewhere inside the depths of the parable. She was no parable prodigy. A familiar sight drew her attention, then, before she made one last turn right. “Oh, there’s the sign.” Nothing in the window would give it away. Only his nose. Well, his eyes, too, once he saw what the choices on the menu were.

"It was not beginner's luck, I am sure. You should accept your strength in this." Korvus didn't say any more as she changed the topic, smiling as he was the restaurant. "Mexican food is very popular here. It shares a spice pallet that is more similar to what I am accustomed to. I enjoy it very much."

Being new to parables in general, Meggan still felt like the label of extreme beginner held true, even if Korvus thought she'd done well at that one. Once at the door, only the little sign (and the scent wafting out) announcing their Mexican assortment put a halt to the element of surprise. But that was okay. It was better that than a giant billboard being placed a mile and a half away, when she was still going for mysterious food surprise. “I’m glad to hear that. And the future birthday person gets to order first,” she declared as she gestured for him to go in ahead of her. She already knew she wanted a chicken chimichanga, which shouldn’t be at the face melting spicy end of the spectrum.

Korvus smiled back to Meggan as they were led in and seated. "Wade has spoken of this restaurant. It is highly acclaimed." He offered to express his pleasure. "This is a very good gift. Experiences are much more highly rated as sources of lasting happiness than are objects."

Acclaimed was fantastic. “Because an object given could always disappear suddenly, or just not last forever,” Meggan said with some understanding. Or tip over and break if it were something fragile. So long as an experience wasn’t forgotten, which—well, it shouldn’t be. When the time came for the waitress to take their order, Meggan was ready to hand over Wade’s certificate to the lady. Korvus could go first, as she had promised.

"I agree. Learning to avoid attachment to objects was part of my schooling in India." Korvus said with a smile before looking to the menu. It only took him a moment to decide and, when their server approached, he ordered the vegetarian fajitas. He looked to Meggan and smiled when it was her turn.

Ooh, she mused at his order, a fajita’s trappings might actually be better than a chimichanga today, because the menu seemed to indicate the latter was slathered in the hottest of hot Tabasco sauce and spices for a special of the day sort of thing. Meggan didn’t want her face to go out the way of an Indiana Jones villain if it was into five alarm bell or more territory, not on Korvus’ early bird birthday. Even if it could be funny under all the heat, once she had made it to the other side. “I think my stomach is in the mood for…the marinated chicken fajita today, thank you,” she smiled to the waitress.

Korvus smiled to Meggan again as the server left. "Other than sharing a meal, are there any other American birthday customs I should expect?"

Meggan was rapidly running out of suggestions, except for a couple. “Other than that? Well, there are presents on the actual day, which you know. Quietly singing the Happy Birthday song, maybe a quick kiss for the birthday recipient?” Likely not right in the middle of fajitas, but later. Somewhere outdoors. Or back home, or anywhere private for him since she knew he wouldn’t want all the kissing out in front of everybody if he was up for a birthday kiss. Especially in a restaurant. “Some people throw streamers. But those are more for surprise birthday parties with everyone jumping out of hiding, wearing the traditional pointy hats, not with meals." She paused for a moment, before adding, "They’d just get messy from sauces.” Wouldn't those things also get singed on birthday candles?

"I have heard the birthday song." Korvus said with a nod. "I find it to be very bland; it uses very few notes."

While Meggan hadn’t given it much thought before, she knew he was right. “That’s probably so the very youngest child can recognize and remember it," Meggan pointed out. "Or someone just ran out of interesting notes, and decided to go swinging back and forth on the world’s smallest scale.”

"Western music has a limited selection of notes." The young man agreed. "It would be difficult to make a song easy for children to memorize that was not repetitive."

“Without being too zany to really be a good birthday type of song for toddlers to remember, and everybody to like more. The wrong sorts of rhymes going off the rails into pure silliness instead,” Meggan mused with a small grin. And from the look of it, now that someone else's quesadilla had been delivered to the people three tables over, the waitress was headed in their direction with their wonderful smelling fajitas.

Korvus leaned back as the food arrived, putting his hands at the edge of the table to make room. "Pure silliness is part of the charm of toddlers, I believe." He observed before smiling to their server and offering his thanks.

“Over 90% of it, yeah,” she laughed. Meggan nodded her thanks, before handing the woman the certificate for their free dining experience. Better now than later, so it wouldn’t get a splash of sauce of some sort. She made certain there was suitable room for her own plate, which there was as soon as she nudged a shaker containing pepper a few inches to the left.

"It was previously expected that members of my family would have a number of children." Korvus shared, while they were on the topic. "It was unusual that my parents only had one child. It was also unusual my father did not marry an Indian woman."

Meggan looked up before taking her first bite, and briefly wondered what happened when it was an unexpected extra baby in bits of his family, rather than no second baby in the family. “Oh. So the love and only having you shook up or slightly broke a bunch of their set expectations right off the bat.”

Korvus nodded. "It was definitely unusual. Most of the other Rook'shirs didn't know if they wanted my parents to have more children or wish they had none at all, I hear. We had previously been a well-bred, high status line. I was very out of place."

It was unfortunate that they had felt that way, and Meggan wasn’t happy about being right about it. “Well, they couldn’t actually wish you out of existence. You were already there.” Could they? No, they couldn’t, not without horrible, horrible things being involved that she didn’t want to start thinking about. Or continue thinking about, since she’d obviously started. “But I don’t think you’re out of place at all.” Here, there, or anywhere.

"I am now the only Rook'shir." Korvus observed as he prepared a fajita. "I am, by definition, the paragon of what it is to be a Rook'shir; it is no longer possible for me to be out of place."

There was no way to argue with that one. Even knowing that sad fact, Meggan still meant it. “You’re right. And you've been a wonderful paragon of a Rook'shir.” She paused to stir extra cheese into the middle of her own meal, having noticed there wasn’t enough there. It could be her personal version of a Cheese Paradise fajita in one portion, while simultaneously burying the bell peppers. It was better than picking them out one shred at a time, and she would still be eating them.

Korvus smiled across the table to Meggan brightly when she said that. "That was a very meaningful compliment. Thank you." He said very sincerely.